Moon Hill: Loss
by Ryden and Xephfyre
Summary: The moon shone down on both of them, casting a heavenly, pearly sheen on the area and the two adventurers, a sight truly befitting to its name: Moon Hill. Written from the Crusader's POV.


A/N: Mhmm, this fic, as well as Moon Hill: Belief, is a collab written by me and Chief. You guys will probably be able to tell who wrote what, anyway, seeing that both of us having different writings preferences to begin with. Loss and Belief are interlinked, and they should bother be read one after the other, though you can start with either one.

I know it's long and might be a bit draggy, but bear with it, and take a cookie after finishing. Remember: I said "a". That's singular, not plural. -evil smile-

As always: read, review, and enjoy.

--

The moon positioned itself gracefully overhead, outshining all the stars that twinkled merrily against the inky black velvet.

His head was tilted upwards towards the orb, but his eyes possessed a look of nonchalance; he didn't care about whatever he was supposedly looking at.

He was just impatient; why did the full moon night take so long to arrive, why did he have to wait so long just to accomplish such a simple task?

These thoughts and nothing more, swirled through Gabriel's mind as he got up from his resting place on the ledge, strapping his Heaven's Gate onto his back before setting off.

He did not pause, not even a little, as he jumped off his ledge-the very one he had been watching the moon from all these nights-, landing slightly unsteadily on the ground below. Though admittedly, the view from there wasn't as good as the one from the mountain peak, Gabriel just didn't want to spend time with _him_ up there.

"Good riddance, it'll be the last time I ever come here," he said to himself, following the crumbling mountain path down the slope. His footsteps trod the path lightly, somewhat surprising for a crusader equipped with all his armor.

His movement ceased abruptly, however, when a shape appeared in front of him.

"God, why is that ranger still here?" he muttered, spying the familiar golden Hinkel. Quickening his pace, he dashed past through the sparse grass, hoping not to be spotted.

He ran and ran, stopping only when he was completely out of breath. During his sprint, he didn't note which direction he was headed because he simply didn't care, merely wishing to avoid contact with the ranger. Gabriel found himself lost within the Black Mountain forest, with absolutely no idea on how to return to town. Fresh out of return scrolls, he cursed under his breath, panting as he walked on further.

Engrossed in his own folly, the crusader failed to notice something approaching him, as it sprung on him with the full element of surprise.

"Wha--?" he yelled, as a Moon Bunny slammed into him.

With a natural flourish, he unsheathed his blade, bringing it down onto the creature. The bunny let out a cry, its limp body falling onto the ground at the crusader's feet.

_Why can't everything just leave me alone?_

The distant rumbling of thunder cut through his thoughts, alerting him to his current situation: stuck in the middle of nowhere with a storm approaching.

Moon bunnies only resided in clearings close to the town border, so following the direction in which it came from would definitely lead him out of the forest, but that was what the ranger had told him before, and no way was he going to listen to him.

Ignoring the looming gray clouds above, Gabriel continued venturing forward.

He didn't care, honestly, if he remained lost, as long as it meant not accepting that smug ranger's _help._

Hours passed, and the tired crusader finally arrived at a familiar clearing, spotting his usual straw shelter at the other end. He was barely halfway across when the floodgates gave way, showering the land. Rain pelted down like arrows shot in an Arrow Rain attack, reminding him all the more of that ranger. He didn't care how wet he was, he just entered the shelter; not liked it helped much to keep him dry anyway, seeing that he was already soaked.

Lowering himself onto the cold, dusty floor of the shack, he leant against a pillar and dropped his Heaven's Gate carelessly at his side. The crusader felt his eyelids grow heavy and they shut themselves as sleep washed over him.

--

He was awoken by the piercing sunlight, glaring unkindly down on him. He winced, using a hand to shield his eyes while his other groped around for his sword. Feeling the hilt within reach, Gabriel stretched his fingers and grasped it firmly, using it as a support while he stood up. He glanced at the other entrance of the shelter; he could see the town border right there. He knew that he would have gotten to town well before it rained the night before had he been willing to follow the ranger's advice, but he simply pretended not to realize that as he dashed towards town.

--

Entering the quaint Korean Folk Town, Gabriel did not pause for anything, not even listening to his protesting stomach. He just had to get to the library before that annoying ranger did, he just had to.

Picking up his pace, the crusader darted through the marketplace, weaving in and out of the morning market crowd. He caught sight of the ranger sitting calmly, having breakfast at Grandma Yeon's stall. He scoffed at the sight, rushing past the magical entrance of the library. He hadn't had the time for such unnecessary tasks.

Gabriel ran past Wiz, the librarian, headed straight for the aisles, aisles that contained the books and records about the two continents. He scanned the shelves with a frantic urgency, desperately trying to find _the_ little red book.

"It has to be here, it just has to-"

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted his lamenting as a gloved hand held out the book he was searching for. "You're looking for this?"

Gabriel didn't need to look, and knew at once who it was: that meddlesome ranger.

"I don't need your help, so just leave me alone," he responded, curtly, yanking the book out of the ranger's hand before turning away.

The crusader sensed him stroll off amiably as he opened the book, flipping through the pages roughly in search of the desired page.

It was a collection of legends, but they meant nothing to him. They weren't real anyway, but stories weaved by the ancients to explain things that seemed to defy all meaning. He was merely after a chance to cure her, and nothing would deter him. After all, he hadn't trained his life out all those years for nothing.

The furious flipping ceased soon enough; the crusader had found his page. The legend's title was printed in majestic, golden ink, cursive-style, above a simple picture of a mage, a fox, and the full moon. He had read the story numerous times before, but in his quest, there was no room for error. His finger followed the words on the pages as he processed the words in his mind, going through the text yet again.

--

The Legend of Old Fox

The legend of the old fox begins in the Korean Folk Town, the home of many other folk tales in itself. It all started with a bond between a Samiho, or three-tailed fox, and a human, a bond that extended far beyond that of plain friendship, but a bond of love.

The Samiho are famed for being an intelligent species, possessing the gift of magic and human-like emotions, though not all are aware of it.

Our tale begins long ago, with a priest by the name of Thedelia. She was raised in Korean Folk Town, and naturally, she returned there after her travels around the world. As a child, she loved to explore the areas around Black Mountain, and, when she returned after her journey, Thedelia set off to re-discover the grounds of her childhood, armed with nostalgic memories.

Since young, she had always revered the Samiho as the most astounding creatures in the vicinity, often spending countless hours watching them in awe from her safe spot at the fox ridge, hidden from view.

On one of her re-discovery expeditions, she was shocked to find a badly wounded baby Samiho lying on the ground, but healed its wounds, nevertheless. The Samiho recognized Thedelia as the one who had healed it, and for her subsequent explorations, it followed her around like a faithful companion.

Thedelia lived alone in the town's outskirts, having been abandoned when she was little. The Samiho seemed to understand her feelings when she ranted out to it; it seemed to be the only one that managed to comprehend her need for companionship. The two were virtually inseparable, and each held an increasingly important position in the other's heart.

One day, the town chickens began to disappear, one by one, and the villagers pointed the blame onto the Samiho. They claimed that the attacks only started after its arrival in the village, and wanted to eliminate the threat. Thedelia, of course, was convinced of her beloved fox's innocence, and defended it strongly.

Despite all her protests, the villagers had full intent of killing the fox when they stormed into her house one night.

Thedelia crouched on the ground, her arms around the fox, staring pleadingly at her own townspeople. They commanded her to move, and when she didn't, they did not care, attacking both her and the fox at the same time.

As both priest and fox braced themselves, she sacrificed her life by using the last of her mana energy to cast a protection over the Samiho, transporting him to the safety of the fox ridge.

The Samiho never forgot what she had done for him, and from then on, was filled with an immense hatred for those that had mercilessly taken her life: humans themselves. It vowed to exact revenge, beginning to train arduously, like no fox had done before. The protection that Thedelia had cast before her death enabled it to amass incredible amounts of mana energy, making it far larger and more powerful than any other ordinary Samiho, as well as rendering it the status of an immortal. The fox, even with so much power, bided its time, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Finally, by the light of a full moon, a party of adventurers entered the fox ridge. The Samiho immediately recognized them as the same few who had murdered his beloved, and unknowingly, its anger took control. In a mad frenzy, it slipped out of the darkness where it had been hiding, and used an ancient skill to steal their souls, leaving nothing but empty shells.

Later, as the fox began to reflect on its actions, remorse filled him: he knew Thedelia would never have wanted it to use her protection to harm others. It was far too late to regret though, he would never be able to die, being immortal, and would never get to join her after its death.

Stained with guilt and occupied with grief, the Samiho hid itself away in a secret clearing at the foot of a hill, located inside the fox ridge forest, not wanting to steal anymore souls. The elders named the clearing "Moon Hill", for its view of the astral body was simply spectacular. He locked his powers away in his tails to prevent himself from using them to harm others, even creating six extra tails to seal his mana energy. These tails, when used to tickle one who has had her soul stolen, can bring back their spirit and undo what the Samiho had done in the first place.

The fox still resides in that secret clearing with the other Samiho even after so many centuries, thus dubbed the Old Fox, but it never appears to anyone except under the light of the full moon. When the moonlight dims, the Old Fox will emerge, as if apologizing to Thedelia for its rashness.

Be warned however, that its temper is still just as unstable, still stealing souls in its outbursts of anger, especially during the full moon.

Nevertheless, their bond is strong enough to make the fox try and repent for its sins, and this in itself, is truly, truly, commendable.

--

"Likely story… A monster fox and a human falling in love? Yeah right…" Gabriel tossed the book onto a nearby table; it wasn't his job to arrange the book back on the shelves, it was Wiz's.

The crusader made to leave the library, but before he stepped through the doors, he noticed a figure in black moving towards the table.

_It's that ranger, no doubt._

He stepped out of the coolness of the library and into the bright sunshine, feeling a warm breeze brush past his face gently.

He had no time to stop and enjoy these things now, seeing as that there were still errands to run.

Steering himself in the direction of the town's residential area, he adopted his normal pace, but perhaps with a slight twinge of reluctance in his step. His pace slowed drastically when he reached the entrance of a large building: the town hospital. Smiling faintly, he gave the receptionist a brief nod before taking a left turn and making his way down the corridor.

He was confident by nature, yet became hesitant when he reached a door, slowly and grudgingly reaching for the metal doorknob. His arm shook a little as he turned it, opening the door just a crack. It was more than enough for him to see the occupant, however, and it hurt him to see her like that.

She was sitting by the window staring blankly at the view outside, no unlike all the other times. He sighed, hand still fixed on the knob, with this disinclination to enter.

_Why did you have to end up like this? It's just… not fair…_

He looked at her, nothing more than a shadow of her former self now that her soul was gone. What once was full of joy and brimming with life was nothing more than a cold and distant statue. She was all he had when he was abandoned all those years ago in the cruel moonlit soul massacre, but she had taken him in, treated him well, just like an older sister would have done. Oh, fate was cruel to him indeed. No one had ever understood him like she had, no one cared, only her. Everyone made him feel useless by pitying him, but she was so different… It just wasn't fair… Why did the fox have to single her out?

_I'll be back, Elyssa, just wait._

He spun around, closing the door quietly behind him.

Gabriel retraced his steps back to the receptionist desk, and was almost there when a recognizable voice caught his attention.

"…don't worry Paige, you'll be alright soon. Tonight's the full moon!"

The crusader peered into the room where the voice was coming from-the door was left wide open anyway-with a skeptical expression on his face.

There sat the ranger, talking animatedly to a girl seated on the hospital bed. She bore the same blank look as Elyssa, and she too was equally unresponsive.

The ranger caught sight of Gabriel standing at the doorway, and smiled warmly at him. The latter merely ignored him and walked off; the ranger was simply _disgusting_.

Finally giving in to his body's pleas, the crusader headed towards the marketplace, intending to grab a quick bite while he stocked up on essentials.

The sun was setting; the golden ball was halfway across the horizon, casting the land in a wondrous, shining glow.

He had taken longer than expected to restock, owing to his stubbornness in getting nothing but the lowest price available. Cursing about the rising prices due to inflation, Gabriel stuffed the elixirs into his bag, preparing to head off into the Black Mountain forest once again.

At that moment, a flash of gold caught his eye, reflecting the sunlight brilliantly off its polished surface. Moving his head a little, he spied the ranger standing before the well with his head bowed, as if making a wish of sorts.

The crusader scoffed, ensuring that his blade was strapped properly to his back before leaving.

_It's pointless to wish for luck; it won't help him at all._

--

Minutes ticked by slowly, as he waited for the dimming of the moonlight. The light source was a perfectly round circle, taking up its place in the night sky. Gabriel's eyes were focused on the moon, watching its exact placement on the black parchment; its precise position was very important.

Soon, very soon, it would be time, and everything would be all over once he obtained the tails.

A yawn hit him, after he failed to stifle it. The crusader looked up at the silvery orb; he still had some time, and a little nap wouldn't hurt. He gave in to the drowsiness and allowed himself to immerse into the land of dreams.

--

Gabriel sprung to his feet instantly, in pure shock. He had allowed himself to drift off into a deep sleep, and now, he was late for the beginning of the moon-dimming. Chiding himself, he rushed to the fox ridge, pushing past the thick foliage, trying to reach the clearing as soon as possible.

He arrived quickly, with sword in hand, expecting to find a grand Old Fox staring longingly at the moon, all alone. He started forward, before stopping abruptly, eyes widening at what he saw before him.

His tardiness had given the ranger the opportunity to make his attempt at slaying the Fox first, and the fact simply irked him.

The crusader stood, rooted to the ground, taking in the battle happening in front of him. He had trained so hard for his purpose, this chance in curing her, and there _he_ was, trying to steal his prize from him!

From what Gabriel could see, the ranger had the upper hand in the fight, but only barely. As the crusader watched, the ranger dodged out of the way of a vicious swipe of the fox's claws with mere inches to spare, before retaliating with a hastily aimed Strafe attack, aimed at the fox's eyes.

The quad shot never hit its mark. Seeing the attack coming, the demon fox immediately jerked its head backwards. Two of the four arrows simply streaked past the fox's head due to the sloppy aiming, and the other two only grazed against the fox's cheeks thanks to its dodging, causing only a few scratches. The fox immediately struck back, and once again the ranger cheated death by inches, throwing himself backwards and avoiding the brunt of the strike. The very tips of the fox's claws scraped against the ranger's chain mail armor, but even that little touch packed enough force behind it to fling the ranger into the air, sending him flying backwards several feet. Granted, if the full brunt of the strike had landed, the ranger would probably have had a few of his ribs broken, and he would have also been sent flying a lot father, so he had gotten off rather light. The ranger, while skidding across the grass on his side for a moment, quickly righted himself, flipping back up onto his feet and brandishing his bow, ready to continue the fight.

Even Gabriel had to admit that he had gained a modicum of respect for the ranger's skills, if not the ranger himself, from watching this fight. The bowman obviously knew how to fight. From what he could tell, this guy had only just made his third job advancement – he was barely level seventy-two. The very fact that he had gone up against the Old Fox and had lasted for as long as Gabriel had been watching was testament enough to his skill. For an all too brief moment, Gabriel feared that the ranger might actually triumph over the nine-tailed demon fox, but his fears were immediately erased when he saw what was to come next.

All of a sudden, the fight took an abrupt turn. The ranger, making the mistake of charging up for an Arrow Rain attack when it was clear that the fox was about unleash one of its own, left himself wide open to attack.

Gabriel could see it as clear as day, both combatants were on the brink of unleashing their own attacks, words of power poised upon the tips of their tongues, ready to unleash utter destruction within the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately for the ranger, it was the Old Fox that made the swifter move.

The demon fox swept forward with both of its paws simultaneously in a vicious slashing motion, and purple energy claws lashed upwards from the ground, tearing up soil and dirt as they rocketed towards the Ranger, who was still locked in his preparation of Arrow Rain. As though eager to spill his blood, the claws immediately leapt upon him, tearing and slashing at whatever they could reach. The ranger's cries of agony could be heard clearly from where Gabriel was standing, and as the crusader watched, the claws began to drive the ranger into the ground, kicking up a dust cloud as they continued their frenzied assault, doing their best to pound the ranger six feet under. Blood was splattered on the grass and earth several feet around where the ranger had been hammered into the ground, and even Gabriel had to wonder if the ranger could have possibly survived _that_.

The claws had long dissipated, and only the blood and the dust cloud were left. The old Samiho now stood stock-still from a distance, and if Gabriel could read the emotions in its eyes correctly at all, he could have sworn that shock and horror were the main emotions raging through the fox's mind now. It was as though it had just realized that it had taken the life of another adventurer. The Samiho raised its head to the full moon that hung above in the sky, and howled mournfully, apologizing to Thedelia's departed spirit for its wrongdoing. It stood there for several more seconds, and slowly, the demon fox began to turn from the crater that its spell had carved into the earth, the crater that supposedly held the ranger's dead body, when it abruptly paused.

Gabriel immediately threw himself down flat on the ground, cursing himself for his stupidity. In his awe of the battle, he hadn't even bothered to properly conceal himself. Probably the fox had sensed his presence, and it would come to finish him off.

He needn't have worried – the fox had instead turned its attention towards the crater, which was still mostly concealed by the dust cloud. Gabriel began to wonder if the fox was having second thoughts about its repentance, when he realized what had caught the fox's attention.

There was a minor fluctuation of energy coming from the crater.

Gabriel was so flabbergasted that he could only wonder to himself, astounded, _was the damned ranger still alive?_ As if to answer his question, a small, simple, azure arrow streaked outwards from the dust cloud, and the crusader nearly succumbed to the urge to burst out in derisive laughter. The ranger had probably made a monumental effort to drag himself from the edge of the abyss to make one last effort, and all he could manage on his final attempt was a freaking _Arrow Blow?_

As though it had completely forgotten about its repentant mood a few seconds earlier, the fox snarled, and easily batted aside the azure arrow, but that wasn't the true threat. If the minor fluctuation of energy that came from the crater prior to the Arrow Blow could be described as a ripple, what came next was a veritable tidal wave in comparison. Gabriel's mind nearly shattered from the forces that assailed him, and even the fox was sent reeling. The dust cloud was immediately kicked aside by a sudden, invisible gust of wind, revealing what had become of the ranger.

His armor was in tatters, hanging off of his mangled, mutilated body in ragged strips. His hair was hanging flat down upon his face, matted and tinged dark red with his blood, which also flowed down his body from dozens of jagged slash marks. The poor ranger was practically coated in the crimson of his life fluids, and somehow he still managed to stand strongly on his own two feet, holding his bow rigidly with an expression of grim determination set upon his now disfigured countenance. The Golden Hinkel was also coated with his blood, but somehow it still managed to retain its golden sheen, practically glowing with power as Gabriel finally saw what the ranger had nocked into his weapon – a single bolt of pure, barely restrained mana. As the crusader stared on in awe, the ranger pulled the bowstring back, and uttered two words that Gabriel never thought he would hear from a bowman's lips.

"Final… _ATTACK!!!"_

The ranger released the bowstring, and the bolt of mana erupted from the Golden Hinkel with an ungodly roar of power. The mystic bolt tore up the earth and soil where it passed over, ripping up blades of grass and sending them whirling about in a miniature, horizontal tornado. With the speed that the bowman had unleashed the attack, the fox barely had a chance to defend itself, and the bolt tore into its side, ripping out a sizable chunk of fur and flesh in a huge spray of blood and guts, and eliciting a roar of shock and agony from the giant Samiho. The demon fox immediately collapsed onto one side, its expression clearly one of pain.

But significantly wounded as it was, Gabriel could plainly see that the nine-tailed demon fox was still in fighting shape, albeit a rather bad one. The ranger, on the other hand, had obviously expended every last iota of strength he could muster into that final shot, a shot that, sadly, had failed to defeat his opponent. Already the bowman was down on one knee, breathing raggedly as his Golden Hinkel slipped to the ground from a grip that was weakening by the second.

_If I join In the fight now, I can save his life, _Gabriel suddenly thought to himself, buffing himself up with his skills. Immediately he felt his skin and muscles harden as Iron Body took effect, and a subtle shimmering aura surrounded his body as he cast Power Guard. He clamped a gauntleted hand onto the handle of his Heaven's Gate, which was sheathed over his back, and energy lanced up the greatsword's blade as he applied Sword Booster, reducing his weapon's immense weight. A small, blue circle of light also surrounded its hilt, indicating that Combo Attack had taken effect as well. _But wait, why should I care about him? He doesn't care about me, honestly, so why should I do anything? He's always dropping hints, offering help… does he think I'm incapable of doing anything myself? I can't stand him!_

He waited, holding onto the hilt of his now-augmented Heaven's Gate so tightly that his knuckles turned white, as he observed the Fox deal the ranger a final blow, droplets of bloods flying from the ranger's wounds as he was flung into the air once more by a swipe of the fox's claws. The adventurer was down, and the Fox had been weakened already; it was _perfect._

Gabriel could hold himself back no longer. It was now, or never. With a battle cry that would have given pause to even a Balrog, he dashed forth from the underbrush from which he had been watching, brandishing his Heaven's Gate as though it were light as a stick.

The ranger's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the crusader make his appearance, and even the fox seemed stunned. Perhaps the Samiho had not sensed his presence after all. Gabriel took advantage of the fox's hesitation, and immediately lunged forward, stabbing his Heaven's Gate forward in a Power Strike.

The blade bit deep into the demon fox's flesh, and the Samiho roared once more in pain. Retaliating as best and as swiftly as its wounds would allow it, the Old Fox made to swipe at him with the paw on its uninjured side, but the exhaustion and injury it had endured from its fight with the ranger left it an easy opponent. Gabriel easily dodged the strike, backflipping a short distance away before charging forth again as the fox recovered. Gabriel unleashed another Power Strike, this time following it up with a Final Attack that gouged a nasty slash wound into the demon fox's unwounded side. Severely weakened and barely able to resist, the fox staggered backwards, whimpering in pain as it sought to put some distance between itself and its new opponent.

Gabriel gave a confident smirk. This fight was going to be a lot easier than he expected. Hefting his Heaven's Gate again and adopting an offensive stance, he prepared to charge forward again to deliver the finishing blow when he realized something was amiss.

The fox was no longer whimpering. It was growling.

And the growling was directed at him.

At _him_.

_You've gotta be kidding me_. Gabriel thought to himself. _The damned animal thinks it can still take me on after I injured it like that?_

The crusader was tempted to laugh, but one thing his instructor had always drilled into him ever since he had been a wet-behind-the-ears swordsman, fresh into his first job advancement, was that _Hubris softens the earth beneath the feet of victory._

So Gabriel immediately switched from an offensive to a defensive stance, watching the fox warily for any tricks.

The fox however, didn't budge an inch. It instead fixed its baleful gaze upon the crusader, the one who had dared injure it so. The growling intensified, and the fox's lips peeled back in a ferocious snarl, revealing teeth as sharp as razors.

It was only then that Gabriel saw something that he had failed to take note of before.

Of the nine tails that the fox had, only three of them were glowing brightly, as they had been throughout the fight with the ranger. And as Gabriel held his stance and the fox continued to stare at him spitefully, the crusader saw that a _fourth_ tail was beginning to glimmer as well.

_The damned thing's trying to raise its power level!_ Gabriel realized, horrified. If just a third of the fox's power was enough to decimate the ranger like that, the crusader could barely imagine what an additional ninth of the fox's power would enable it to do to him. Being only ten levels higher than the ranger, Gabriel had anticipated only a marginally easier time taking down the fox, but now that an _additional_ tail was being added to the fox's power, Gabriel could only begin to doubt his chances of victory. _I've got to stop it before it raises its strength too high!_

With another battle cry, Gabriel abruptly charged forward, not bothering with the details. The sooner he put the fox down, the better.

Just as he was inches from striking distance, Gabriel could have sworn he saw the fox's mouth curl upwards in a smirk, and suddenly it directed a full-blown roar at him.

But for the Samiho, just a simple roar was already enough to create a devastating sphere of destruction, and the shot of compressed air rammed into the crusader's midsection, driving him backwards and several feet into the air. Gabriel nearly choked on his own blood as he felt several of his ribs crack, and as he slammed into the earth a few yards away from the fox, he was certain that there would be a livid bruise where the sphere had impacted, granted if all his internal organs weren't shredded into liquid shit already.

Blood leaking from his mouth, Gabriel resolutely pushed himself onto his feet, ignoring the pain of his injured ribs. He'd endured far worse before, trekking through a full-blown blizzard in El Nath for two whole days before he finally reached the safety of the town, while simultaneously fending off sporadic attacks from Yetis, all while his dislocated left arm had been nothing but a shredded mass of barely bandaged slash wounds, and his right leg had been practically useless, his kneecap all but shattered and his ankle badly sprained. This was nothing.

Quickly wiping the blood off his mouth, Gabriel adopted another offensive stance, casting Rage and letting the killing frenzy take over. As the red haze descended upon his vision, Gabriel felt his muscles bulge slightly, and welcomed the surge of strength and adrenaline that came every time he cast Rage. Screaming, the crusader sprinted forward, bringing his Heaven's Gate upwards in a wide arc. As he approached the fox, he saw that a blood-red aura now surrounded it, an aura that writhed and pulsed as though it was alive, and the bleeding in the two wounds in its side had slowed down considerably.

The fox roared a response and lashed out at him the moment he was within reach, snarling. Gabriel barely twisted to the side in time, but as he began to bring the Heaven's Gate upwards in another Power Strike, the aura that surrounded the fox's paw suddenly writhed, and a tendril exploded outwards, striking Gabriel across the face.

Shock was the main thing the crusader experienced, accompanied by lots of pain as he reeled to the side from the strike. What the hell just happened? Raising a hand to the cheek that the tendril had hit, Gabriel realized to his chagrin that he'd been badly burned. Disregarding the pain, Gabriel grunted and lunged forward again, this time making sure to avoid the strikes that the aura attempted to make as he dodged the fox's actual swipes. He managed to get in three more Power Strikes and landed two Final Attacks as well, but more than half of those were either deflected aside by the living aura, and the rest barely managed to bite deeply enough into the fox's flesh to wound it significantly.

Finally, the fox's defense, coupled with its living aura, proved to be too much, and Gabriel quickly retreated, panting heavily in exhaustion. Burns covered his arms where he had desperately tried to block the tendrils from actually touching his body, and a few slash marks decorated his body, marking where Gabriel had failed to avoid the fox's claws.

_This… isn't going very well. _Gabriel thought reluctantly to himself, as he watched the fox solidly dig its hind legs into the ground. Already the fox's fourth tail was glowing brightly, and with a triumphant roar, the Samiho plunged both its forepaws into the soil, and Gabriel suddenly felt the soil beneath his feet begin to tremble.

The crusader barely jumped out of the way in time. Two blood-red claws, colored the exact same shade of red as the aura that surrounded the nine-tailed demon fox, burst out from the earth, right beneath the spot where he had stood just a mere second ago. Gabriel quickly rolled to his feet and sprinted away from the claws as swiftly as he could, but even as he ran another claw formed itself from the two upraised mana claws, darting out like a snake and streaking straight towards him.

Swearing mightily, Gabriel intensified his pace of running when he noticed something – the fox seemed to be putting its entire concentration into directing the claw's pursuit of him. Deciding to put it to the test, Gabriel altered his path slightly so that he was running on a path inclined towards the fox. Though the Samiho raised its head in response and snarled viciously at him, it did not extract its forepaws from the earth.

Gabriel grinned to himself. Perfect. The fox had left itself wide open to attack. His gauntleted hand clamped down upon the handle of his Heaven's Gate, feeling the serene rotation of the five combo orbs that his Power Strikes had earned him, and he turned completely towards the Old Fox, ignoring the claw that was closing in behind him and fixating his attention upon the giant Samiho.

The moment he was within striking range, Gabriel did not waste a second, and raised the greatsword high above his head.

"_Coma!!!"_

The five combo orbs swiftly sank into the blade's hilt, and for a split-second the Heaven's Gate flashed bright blue – then Gabriel brought the blade downwards in an arc intended to sever the fox's head from its shoulders, but at the last moment, the fox turned its head towards him, and his blade bit into the fox's cheek instead.

The fox's aura was all that kept its head from being sliced in two. Instead the Samiho's head snapped to the side, as though it had been solidly clocked with a powerful punch, and its paws were torn from the earth, the energy claw behind Gabriel dissipating just as it was mere inches from sinking its sizzling nails into his back.

Gabriel was both frustrated and elated simultaneously – he had managed to land a solid blow onto the fox, but at the same time he had failed to kill it. He was about to continue his assault when out of the blue, another energy claw formed from the aura surrounding the fox's head, and it slashed at him viciously across the stomach.

The blow packed enough force to send him flying backwards several yards. Gabriel was in so much agony that he could barely breathe as he crashed into the grass again, and his muscles nearly failed him as he slowly forced himself to his feet, gritting his teeth and grunting in pain. Three huge, jagged slash wounds decorated his midsection, and though the bleeding was not excessively profuse, it was enough to give pause to even the crusader's high tolerance for pain.

Forcing himself into another ready stance, Gabriel struggled to get his breath back, desperately trying to ignore the pain that kept his muscles from moving. The fox's baleful gaze had not shifted from him one inch, but now it was obviously charging up for an attack – small motes of light, dark red and bright blue, began to appear in the air surrounding it, forming a crude sphere of sorts. The fox reared its head slightly upwards, opening its jaws, and the motes of light began to merge together, condensing into a football-sized, obviously incredibly dense sphere of energy that floated serenely right in front of the fox's waiting mouth.

Gabriel decided to make full use of this brief lull in the action. Reaching down to his belt pouch, he withdrew an Elixir, and quickly gulped down the purple restorative potion – he immediately felt some of his strength and stamina return, and the pain lessened to a more tolerable degree. Gabriel quickly chugged down the last droplet, and tossed aside the empty bottle, focusing completely on the fox.

The Samiho meanwhile, had forced even further changes to the sphere of mana it had created. The ball rapidly shrank down, condensing itself even further until it was about the size of a baseball, just a nice fit into the fox's jaws. As Gabriel watched in trepidation, the fox cracked open its mouth a few inches wider, and its head darted forward, capturing the mana sphere in its jaws, and swallowing it.

Gabriel only had a moment to wonder what the hell the fox was playing at, when he saw that the aura surrounding the fox had suddenly swelled to an incredible, bloated size. The fox itself did not swell as much as the aura, but it seemed just as bloated, about to burst at the seams with the sheer amount of energy it had just ingested, and a split-second later, the fox opened its maw as wide as it possible could.

A colossal beam of pure mana erupted outwards from the Samiho's open jaws with a tremendous bang, flying straight at the unprepared crusader.

"_OH SHII--!" _Was Gabriel's last coherent thought before he quickly brought up his Heaven's Gate in a blocking stance at the very last moment. The next several moments passed in a haze of heat, sweat, agony, as the sensation of a terrific force attempting to barrel him over and incinerate him simultaneously assaulted him. It was all the crusader could do not to give in, even though every muscle in his body screamed for him to submit. He had trained relentlessly for the past several years to prepare for this fight, and to _prevail,_ not to lose after coming so far! He would NOT be denied, he would NOT be defeated! With the memories of the blood, sweat and tears he had shed to come this far driving him onwards, Gabriel steeled himself and redoubled his efforts of resistance. Finally, after what seemed to be a century later, the onslaught finally stopped, and Gabriel could only begin to recover what remained of his senses.

Attempting to open his eyes, he realized belatedly that his entire front body was covered in burns. One of his eyes had been badly bruised to the point that it had swelled itself shut. His other eye's vision was blurry at best, and he could barely focus at all. His eyebrows had been nearly completely burned off. The front half of his armor had been completely incinerated from the waist up, exposing his badly injured body to the cool night air. Even the right leg of his armored trousers had been vaporized up to his knee, and his gloves and greaves were in tatters. The pain that he had been going through previously paled in comparison to this – it felt as though a thousand tiny burning knives assailed his skin all at once. It hurt to even just breathe. Still, it was nothing he hadn't endured before; this was only one or two margins less severe than the pain that he had endured in his El Nath trek.

Biting his tongue to make sure he didn't scream in pain, Gabriel managed to suppress his outcry to merely a grunt as he gingerly shifted his stance, slowly bringing down the blade of his Heaven's Gate to see what had become of the Samiho.

It immediately became apparent to him that the Samiho's shot at him had been similar to the ranger's Final Attack at it – it had put every bit of strength it had into that shot, and now its aura was gone, and the wounds in the Old Fox's sides had resumed bleeding profusely. The fox was lying on one of its side gingerly, and its chest rose up and down in shallow breaths.

Gabriel had half a mind to wonder why the hell wasn't the fox dead yet, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Deciding to take what he could get, he staggered forward as quickly as his legs would allow him, coming up to the fox's head a few moments later.

Looking down at the injured and exhausted fox, he saw that the old Samiho was on the brink of death, but if he left it alone, it just might recover. As exhausted and in pain as he was, Gabriel still had the strength for one last deed. He raised the Heaven's Gate over his head, and brought it down on the fox's neck without hesitation. The Samiho's chest stopped moving, and Gabriel retrieved his blade, wiping off the blood and sheathing the Heaven's Gate. The deed done, he quickly turned towards the rear of the fox's body, and strode purposefully to the nine tails that were so coveted by adventurers.

Pure elation overwhelmed him as he fingered the nine tails, ignoring the pain that his numerous wounds brought him, and he swiftly withdrew a dagger from a sheath on his waist, cutting them off as carefully as he could, given his excitement. They were amazingly smooth, just like silk, and radiated an aura of incredible power. He ran his hands through the fur, unable to bear putting them down.

After a couple of minutes of inspection, he carefully stowed his prize in his bag, readying to leave when the ranger called out to him on a raspy voice with his last few breaths.

"Ple…Please… ta-take my body…ba-back… to… town… "

Gabriel didn't care. Why should he care about others when none cared about him when he was down before?

He stepped over the ranger's dying body, careful to tread heavily on the Golden Hinkel that lay about an inch away from the ranger's fingertips, clearly out of his reach. With a loud crack, the bow was split in two as Gabriel left, never looking back.

The moon shone down on both of them, casting a heavenly, pearly sheen on the area and the two adventurers, a sight truly befitting to its name: Moon Hill.

_The Loss of two souls, in pursuit of saving one._

_--_

A/N: Chief here, hope you enjoyed the fic. Cookie jar's right over there next to the empty tissue box - it's empty cos CrapPishh is down with the flu. Poor girl. Remember to read Belief as well, she's posted it up. By the way, kudos to anybody who can spot the Bleach and Naruto references in both Loss and Belief.


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